From the San Fran Chronicle:Republican leaders, after losing a bitter fight over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge late last year, plan to bring the contentious issue before Congress again this year.Another opportunity for Mike DeWine to vote "no" and support higher prices and dependence on foreign oil...
Pro-drilling lawmakers now are making a new argument, saying rising oil prices and fears of an oil shock sparked by the escalating dispute over Iran's nuclear program provide more reasons to open the Alaskan refuge.
"I can't imagine that anybody would expect with the Iranian situation that we will sit by and not take another shot at (drilling in the refuge)," Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a longtime champion of drilling, said during a speech Wednesday.
"We've got to find a way," Domenici said. "We think there's one out there."
But opponents of drilling argue that GOP leaders face even tougher odds trying to approve the measure this year.
In November, moderate House Republicans staged a revolt against the drilling proposal, stripping it from a leadership-sponsored budget bill. A month later, Senate Democrats and a few Republicans blocked Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' effort to authorize drilling by attaching it to a defense spending bill that funded U.S. troops and hurricane relief.
DISCLOSURE: I am the blog administrator for Pierce for Senate, a primary challenger of Mike DeWine.
